Chapter Two
Disclaimer: Same as before. Not mine la la la.
Author's Notes: Lo, chapter two! Cameos galore :)
--
The sun was beginning to set, and Kurogane could see that Sakura's strength was waning. She was trying to keep a brave face, but he could see she was paler than before, and her white hands clutched the reins of her horse far too tightly. Mokona, sitting in front of her, was hunched down miserably.
"We should stop for the night," Kurogane said.
"No!" Sakura said, too quickly. "I'm—I'm all right, Kurogane-san. We should keep going. Who knows how far away they might be by now?"
"And they might have already gone in another direction," Kurogane pointed out. "The snow from last night was melted by morning. All we know is which way they were going when they left."
"If only there was someone to ask," Sakura said, frustrated. "But all I've seen since we left town is forest!"
"We can't ride all night," Kurogane said. "If we're going in the wrong direction, we're just getting farther away from where we want to be."
"But--" Sakura was cut off by a bright, happy voice.
"You're wonderful!"
Sakura squeaked in surprise and reined her horse to a stop as a girl suddenly appeared out of the bushes, carrying a basket of flowers.
"Here, you should have this!" The girl held out a flower. "It would look so beautiful in your hair."
"Th-thank you," Sakura said, a little overwhelmed.
"Hey," Kurogane spoke up. "Girl. Did it snow here last night?"
"Yes, it did." The girl looked at him in confusion. "But it was mostly melted by this morning when I woke up."
"Then we're going the right way!" Sakura said happily. "Did you see anyone traveling? A boy and two men, in a sleigh?"
"I'm afraid not," the girl said, shaking her head. "But one of my servants might have. My cottage is nearby. It's so late, if you don't have anywhere to go you can stay the night."
"That would be wonderful!" Sakura said. "Thank you very much. My name is Sakura, and this is Kurogane-san."
"I'm Tomoyo." The girl smiled brightly. "Please, follow me."
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Kurogane asked Sakura as they followed Tomoyo. "This could be a trap."
"But Tomoyo-chan seems so kind," Sakura said. "Don't worry, Kurogane-san. I'm sure everything will turn out okay."
Kurogane snorted, but continued following after Tomoyo.
"My cottage is just ahead," Tomoyo said after a while, swinging her basket of flowers as she turned to smile at Sakura. "I'm so glad I found you! There's no one else who lives nearby, and I couldn't have you sleeping outside in the mud and the dark like this."
"Thank you," Sakura murmured, turning a bit red at all the praise.
"Ah, here we are." Tomoyo led them through a particularly thick group of bushes into a clearing.
Kurogane and Sakura stared. Tomoyo's house was at least twice the size of Sakura's manor house.
"That's a cottage?" Kurogane muttered.
"I'm home," Tomoyo said cheerfully to the pair of armored guards standing outside the door. One of them took her basket of flowers from her and she turned to wave to Sakura and Kurogane. "Please, come inside! It'll be getting cold soon, you shouldn't be out. I'll have someone take your horses."
"This was good luck, right?" Sakura said a bit sheepishly to Kurogane as they dismounted.
Kurogane looked at the large house and Tomoyo's worshipful gaze (fixed firmly on Sakura) and sighed.
"Good luck. Right."
--
It was a surprisingly good night's sleep, Sakura had to admit as she climbed out of the soft bed Tomoyo had provided for her. She'd been up late the night before as Tomoyo led her around the house, meeting all the servants in an attempt to discover if anyone had seen anything the night the snow fell. So far there had been no luck, though Tomoyo had taken her hands and stated that she was certain Sakura would find out something soon.
A servant was waiting for her when she exited the room, and the woman led Sakura into a large kitchen where Tomoyo was waiting for her with a hot breakfast. Kurogane was already there, looking irritable. Mokona the cat was sitting on the floor eagerly eating its own breakfast.
"Did you sleep well?" Tomoyo asked. Sakura nodded, and she beamed. "I hope you don't mind, but I've had my servants gather up some more supplies for your trip, just in case. They're loading your horses now, so there should be plenty of time for you to eat before you need to leave." She leaned forward suddenly and clasped Sakura's hands. "And I hope you don't mind, but please, would you let me do something for you? I saw that you didn't have very many changes of clothing, so I spent last night making you some wonderful traveling clothes. Please, will you take them?"
"Tomoyo-chan." Sakura was a little overwhelmed, but she managed a smile. "Of course I will!" Tomoyo's smile lit up her face. "But Tomoyo-chan…why are you doing all this for us? You don't even know us!"
"Because you seemed like such a kind person," Tomoyo said. "I live alone out here you know, with only my servants, and travelers come by all the time, so I've decided to help any kind person who passes. And you looked so cute on your horse last night, I just couldn't resist helping you!" She was practically glowing. Sakura gave a nervous laugh.
"Is—is there anything else I can do for you?" Sakura asked. Tomoyo looked at her curiously. "It's just…you've helped us so much. Can't I do something to help you?"
"Wearing my clothes makes me happy enough," Tomoyo said. She paused thoughtfully. "Though if you'd like, after you eat, would you water my flowers? I'll have one of my servants show you where the garden is. They'll grow best when someone like you waters them, I'm sure."
Sakura finished breakfast quickly and one of the servants led her to the garden while Tomoyo went to put the finishing touches on her outfits. Kurogane followed Sakura with a bored look on his face.
"The garden is through here, miss." The servant led Sakura to a large wooden door and bowed quickly before leaving.
"Do we really have time for this?" Kurogane muttered.
"I want to do something nice for Tomoyo-chan," Sakura said, picking up the watering can. "It won't take long."
She opened the door and stared. Tomoyo's garden was huge, with flowers of all kinds and colors stretching far off into the distance.
"It's beautiful," Sakura murmured. She dropped to her knees in front of a small patch of lilies, admiring the colors. "They remind me of the flowers outside my house…the ones Syaoran-kun and I planted…"
An old memory flickered in her mind, and suddenly Sakura thought she could hear something in the distance.
"You okay?" Kurogane's voice faded into the background as Sakura leaned closer to the flowers.
She could hear them.
It was faint at first, just a single voice, but after a moment the noise grew, as each of the flowers sang to her in its own voice, all of them leaning forward as if longing to speak to her.
"Did the snow fall on you too?" Sakura quietly asked one of the lilies.
We all have stories, the lily whispered back. Every flower carries a story. Every flower hears something.
"Do you know where Syaoran-kun is?" Sakura said.
Once upon a time, there was a child of misfortune, another lily said. He lived in a land of ice and snow, in a small town of brave hunters and proud women. The child was cursed with fair looks and cunning eyes and a power deep and strong that controlled all around it. Destruction reigned wherever this child went, avalanches and blizzards, children falling through ice and drowning in cold waters below. The townspeople named him a cursed child and locked him up in a high tower until they could discover how to deal with him, and even his mother allowed them to do so, for she too was afraid. So the child remained in the tower for many long months until his body was bruised from neglect and his hair grew long and tangled. And finally the town elders met and made a decision, and so all the townspeople drove the unfortunate child from the town, and sent him cold and raggedly clad into the wild winter and the howling winds and never thought of him again.
The sad little story made Sakura bite her lip, but it wasn't the story she was looking for. She moved on to a pretty pink tulip.
"Have you seen Syaoran-kun?"
Once upon a time, the flower said in its high sweet voice, there was a king who controlled the winter. He lived in a castle in a land where the snow fell eternally. Yet despite this cold land the king was blessed with a warm heart and strong soldiers who loved him and guarded his proud castle from all who would attempt to slay him and stop the spread of winter, for there were many who did not understand that winter must come with its death so that spring can begin its rebirth. For you see, every now and then the king would send out his wolves to bring winter to places where winter should be, and every now and then the wolves would return fleeing the coming of spring and would lay at the king's feet as he breathed the life back into them. So this went and so the king lived in this world where flowers grew even when snow fell, and then one day a wolf returned from a place high and far where spring only rarely came. In its mouth this wolf carried a thin and wretched child in tattered clothes, which it presented to the king. The boy was pale and blue with cold but breathed steadily on, and the king took the boy in and gave him fine warm clothes and delicious food, and then the king used his great powers and healed the old wounds and the frostbitten fingers and cut the child's long hair and made a prince of him.
"That's a very nice story," Sakura told the flower. "But I'm afraid it's no help." She moved down the line to a little patch of daisies. "Please, have you seen Syaoran-kun?"
Once upon a time, the daisies spoke in tandem, their voices mild and lilting, there was a child of misfortune who grew into a man, and a king who lived in a land of snow. The child who became a man had great powers and the king had greater ones, and so the king taught the man how to control his powers, which the man thought could only bring misfortune. In the land of ice and snow everything was white and shining and though the king seemed content, the man wished he could show the king something truly beautiful which could not exist where only snow was. So the man decided to use his powers, which, recall, could bring only misfortune. And in his zeal to create something truly beautiful for the king, the man overstepped the limits of his own power and created a mirror which was meant to show everything to be beautiful and colorful but instead made everything black and ugly and filled with a deeper cold than the snow. The cold black mirror shattered and the brave loyal soldiers who filled the castle were frozen by its power, and the animals and the birds that lived in the kingdom of snow were frozen, and this land became a timeless land. The shards of the mirror flew far and fast, and the largest of these fragments was imbedded in the heart of the snow king, and so once again the power of misfortune touched all.
This was still not the story she was looking for, so Sakura moved on to a bright little marigold.
"Have you seen Syaoran-kun?"
Once upon a time, the snow fell and the wind blew, the marigold said in a voice like a ringing bell. And with it the wind blew sparkling shards that froze the heart. A boy and a girl sat on a hill watching the sunset, and one of these shards, which were ice and darkness and poison to what they touched, landed in the eye of the boy and his eye turned blue there. And so the boy was struck with pain and the girl too was struck with her own pain, and everything became very dark and cold. Then, one night the snow fell though it was spring, and the boy wandered away from the girl who loved him into a town square lit up in the night. And there the snow king appeared and took the boy with him, and where they went the snow fell behind them. They traveled far to the west past the house of the witch, and there the flowers lost them and they were seen no more.
"That must be Syaoran-kun!" Sakura exclaimed. "I'm trying to find him. Please, flower-san, don't you know where they went?"
They traveled far to the west past the house of the witch, and there the flowers lost them, the marigold repeated. But the witch sees all and knows much. Ask the witch.
Ask the witch, repeated the rest of the flowers, swaying the breeze. Their voices blended together, growing louder and louder until it made her head hurt. Ask the witch. Ask the witch.
"Hey!" Someone shook her roughly and suddenly Sakura couldn't hear them anymore. She turned to see Kurogane standing behind her. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, now I am," Sakura said, a bit breathlessly. "Thank you, Kurogane-san. And—and now I know where Syaoran-kun went!"
"Eh?" Kurogane looked confused, so she quickly explained about the flowers. The look on his face suggested that he didn't quite believe her, but he didn't say anything when she told him they had to go see the witch.
Sakura wiped the dirt off her dress and hurriedly finished watering the flowers. She had just finished when a servant appeared and led her and Kurogane outside to where Tomoyo was waiting with their horses, Mokona in her arms.
"Did they help you?" Tomoyo asked as they approached.
"I need to go see the witch," Sakura said. "But Tomoyo-chan…how did you know…?"
"I knew the flowers would like you," Tomoyo said simply, smiling. "Because you're a person who plants lots of flowers just so one won't be lonely. That's why I like you so much."
"Tomoyo-chan…" Sakura bowed. "Thank you so much!"
"It was my pleasure!" Tomoyo reached forward to grasp Sakura's hands. "Please stop here again when you come back, okay?"
"I will!" Sakura mounted her horse and reached down to take Mokona from Tomoyo.
"Please be careful!" Tomoyo waved as Sakura and Kurogane started off. Sakura looked over her shoulder and waved back, watching until Tomoyo had disappeared behind the bushes.
--
As they traveled further, the woods began to change. The green and lush forest became grayer and the stark tree branches rose up like spindly fingers against the darkening sky. Even the sounds of animals grew more distant. The only thing that could be heard besides the steady clopping of the horses' hooves and the occasional meow from Mokona was the cawing of a single crow.
Kurogane rode beside Sakura in silence. He was beginning to wonder why he had agreed to go with her. They were traveling west into a land populated by who-knows-what, following what Sakura claimed was the advice of flowers. It was ridiculous. And for all Kurogane knew, her brother already had people out looking for them, who would be all to happy to arrest him on sight for kidnapping their mistress. If he had any brains at all, he'd grab the reins of the girl's horse and drag her back home whether she wanted to go or not, and then they'd forget anything ever happened.
Kurogane thought of Fai's stupid smiling face and unreadable eyes and cursed silently. This really was all the idiot's fault. He had to go forward now, if only so he could see Fai one more time and give the moron a good stabbing.
"Kurogane-san, look there!" Sakura suddenly stood up a bit in her seat, pointing. Kurogane looked away from the crooked trees and followed her gaze. A house rose up in the distance. "Do you think it's the witch-san's house?"
Kurogane didn't answer, eyeing the house suspiciously. It wasn't so much a house as strange looking shack, black all over with large windows and lots of right angles. The place looked like it would blow apart with the first stiff wind.
"We should move on," Kurogane said as they approached it.
"But Kurogane-san, the flowers said--"
"I don't like the look of this place." Kurogane gave the house a disapproving glare as a crow settled down on the rotting sign that stood nearby. Kurogane leaned over and tried to read the words, but they had long faded away.
"Yes, but – Mokona!" Sakura made a wild grab for the white cat as it jumped off her horse and trotted straight towards the odd black house.
"Mokona, wait!" Sakura reined her horse to a stop and hurriedly climbed down, running after the cat. Kurogane gave a long-suffering sigh and climbed down from his own horse, tying the two animals to one of the trees. The crow cawed at him as he walked past it towards the house.
"Mokona!" Sakura called the cat's name again, but it continued to ignore her as it climbed into a cracked window and disappeared inside the house.
"Good riddance to that thing," Kurogane said as he walked up beside her.
"We can't leave Mokona behind!" Sakura said insistently. "He's Fai-san's cat. I can't just leave him here."
She strode past Kurogane, walking up the steps leading to the doorway. There was an old doorknocker in the shape of a butterfly hanging form the wooden door.
"This is such a pain," Kurogane grumbled as Sakura banged the doorknocker. He kept a hand on his sword as he came up beside her.
The door creaked open, and a boy in glasses peered out.
"Oh! Can I help you?" His eyes darted curiously from Sakura to Kurogane and back again.
"Are you the witch-san?" Sakura asked.
"No, not me, but this is her shop." The boy pulled the door open wider and gestured for them to come inside. "Are you here to see Yuuko-san?"
"Yes. I mean, I think so," Sakura said, walking inside. Kurogane eyed the boy suspiciously as he followed. "And our cat got lost, too. I think it came in here."
"Our cat?" Kurogane muttered. They followed the boy into what appeared to be the main drawing room. The furniture was black and draped with silks, and small butterfly-shaped lights hung from the wall. Kurogane noted with some suspicion that the inside of the house seemed far too large compared to the outside.
"I'll go get Yuuko-san. Please wait here." The boy gestured for them to sit and then hurried off. Sakura nervously settled herself on the couch, but Kurogane simply leaned against the wall and waited, his hands close to the hilt of his sword.
"I don't trust this place," the man said.
"It feels strange," Sakura said quietly, not quite agreeing. "But I'm sure the flowers wouldn't lead me into danger, Kurogane-san."
"I'm not so sure," Kurogane replied. "Just be careful, Lady. This isn't any ordinary house."
"Of course not." They looked up as a woman entered the room. She had long black hair and wore an expensive-looking black dress embroidered with butterflies. "This is a witch's house, after all."
"So you're the witch-san?" Sakura asked.
"My name is Yuuko," the woman said, seating herself on the couch across from Sakura. "And this is a place where any wish can be granted, if a suitable price is paid. If you came here, then there must be a thing you need, am I correct?"
"Yes." Sakura nodded.
"There is a price," Yuuko warned her.
Suddenly a black and white streak burst into the room, racing around the furniture.
"Mokona!" Sakura exclaimed as the white cat darted into her lap. The black cat it had been chasing climbed up next to Yuuko, purring.
"I'm sorry, Yuuko-san, I was feeding Mokona and--" The boy in glasses appeared breathlessly, waving at the black cat.
"It's all right, Watanuki," Yuuko said, petting the black cat. "Mokona knew its other was nearby, that's all."
"That cat is named Mokona too?" Sakura said, looking from the white cat to the black.
"Yes," Yuuko replied. "They're….a set."
"Then you know the idiot," Kurogane spoke up.
"I sold the cat to Fai, yes," Yuuko said.
"Why?" Kurogane pressed angrily. "Are you working with him?"
"You should know better than that, Kurogane." Yuuko didn't seem at all fazed by his anger.
"I didn't tell you my name."
"I didn't need you to." Yuuko smiled, and it reminded Kurogane uncomfortably of one of Fai's more predatory expressions. "I am a witch, after all."
"Yuuko-san…" Sakura spoke up hesitantly. "You know Fai-san?"
"As I said, I sold him the cat." Yuuko was still looking at Kurogane. "It wasn't what he asked for. He couldn't pay the price for me to grant what he truly wanted, so we made another trade instead."
"What did he really want?" Kurogane asked.
"Oh, I can't tell you that," Yuuko said secretively. "You shouldn't be so nosy, Kurogane. Now, I believe we have our own transaction to deal with."
"Can you help us find Syaoran-kun and Fai-san?" Sakura asked. Kurogane raised an eyebrow at her inclusion of Fai into the question.
"I can." Yuuko's face was serious but not unkind. "There is a price, you understand. I'll need something precious from you."
Sakura nodded, but her face was pale, and Kurogane could see her casting little glances out the window where her pack was. He suddenly remembered what she had said to him when they'd first left the town.
"I brought him his birthday present, too. When we find him, I'm going to give it to him and this time he'll call me by name."
Kurogane sighed. Really, it was such a pain.
"Here." He held out his sword to the witch. "This is our payment."
"Kurogane-san…" Sakura was staring at him, wide-eyed. "Kurogane-san, don't! I should be the one who--"
"Shut up," Kurogane said, causing her to flinch a little. "I told you, there's an idiot I want to talk to. It's my wish too, so I'll pay." He turned back to Yuuko. "Well?"
"The payment is accepted." Yuuko took the sword and handed it to the boy in glasses. "Watanuki, take this to the storeroom."
"Well?" Kurogane said impatiently as the boy hurried off.
Yuuko stood and walked over to Sakura, sitting down beside her. She ran a hand along the white cat clasped in the girl's arms.
There was a sudden burst of light, and then the cat was gone and something else was in its place.
"Nice to meetcha!" A small white creature sat in Sakura's lap, extending a hand to her.
"M-Mokona?" Sakura asked hesitantly.
"What the hell?" Kurogane swore.
"Mokona will lead you where you need to go," Yuuko said, getting up to leave.
"How the hell is this stupid white pork bun supposed to help us?" Kurogane growled. "Give me back my sword!"
"A fair price is nothing to mess with," Yuuko said, and he could hear the mocking laughter in her voice. "Mokona will take you where you need to go. Good luck."
With that, Yuuko disappeared down the hall into the darkness. Kurogane had the distinct impression that they'd just been dismissed.
"This stupid pork bun better be worth losing my sword for," Kurogane said darkly.
"Mokona isn't a pork bun!" the white thing stated. "Mokona is Mokona!"
"Mokona, will you help us find Syaoran-kun?" Sakura asked the little creature.
"Of course." Mokona smiled at her. "It's one of Mokona's 108 secret techniques: Ultimate Tracking Ability!"
"Thank you very much, Moko-chan!" Sakura gave the creature a hug. Kurogane rolled his eyes and wondered if it wasn't too late to trade them both in for a new sword.